East–West Street
Rue Capitaine Marius
Named after: Captain François Marius Xavier, Tamil officer of the French Colonial Infantry from Reddiarpalayam
Welcome to Rue Capitaine Marius, named after a Tamil officer of the French Colonial Infantry who was born just down the road in Reddiarpalayam. For decades, historians could not identify him. Then someone read the pedestal of his statue very carefully.
Captain François Marius Xavier was born in Reddiarpalayam, the neighbourhood immediately south of the White Town. In his day it was known as 'Little Saigon': so many people from Reddiarpalayam had enlisted in the French Colonial Infantry or entered the administration of French Indochina that the name stuck. Xavier was one of them. He rose to the rank of Captain and died in French service.
His name is carved on the French War Memorial on Beach Road, alongside every other soldier from Pondicherry killed in France's wars. It also appears on a memorial board inside the Pondicherry Municipality building. A statue of him stands off Villianur Main Road in Reddiarpalayam, his home neighbourhood, with his name on the pedestal: hard to read, but decipherable with patience.
For a long time, the street name 'Capitaine Marius' seemed like a dead end. No file, no regiment number, no date of death in the written record. It was a post by the Comptoirs de l'Inde association that finally connected the statue to the street name and gave the captain back his full name and his story. The White Town remembered him. Reddiarpalayam remembered him. The historians just had to catch up.
Notable on this street
- His full name: Captain François Marius Xavier, born in Reddiarpalayam, south of the White Town.
- Reddiarpalayam was called 'Little Saigon' because so many of its men served in French Indochina. Xavier was one of them.
- His name is carved on the French War Memorial on Beach Road. Look for it when you visit the Promenade.
- A statue of him stands in Reddiarpalayam, off Villianur Main Road. His name is on the pedestal, hard to read but there.
- For years historians could not identify him. A post by the Comptoirs de l'Inde association finally cracked it.
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